How to free up space with cleanup recommendations on Windows 11

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Windows 11 comes with a “cleanup recommendations” feature designed to automate the process of identifying the contents that can help free up hard drive space on the computer.

The feature is part of the Storage settings, and it automatically detects and displays the amount of data that Windows 11 can reclaim by deleting certain large or unused files, uninstalling apps that you do not use, and clearing copies of files already uploaded to OneDrive.

Windows 11 cannot delete files and apps for you, but if the device is running out of space, the settings page allows you to select and delete unused files and remove apps to make more room for other content.

In this guide, you will learn the steps to free up hard drive space using the cleanup recommendations feature on Windows 11.

Free up space with cleanup recommendations on Windows 11

To use cleanup recommendations to free up space on a Windows 11 computer, use these steps:

1. Open Settings on Windows 11.

2. Click on System.

3. Click the Storage page on the right side.

4. Under the “Storage management” section, click the Cleanup recommendations option.

   

   Cleanup recommendations

5. Click on Temporary files.

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6. Check the cleanup recommendations files to free up space on Windows 11.

   Quick tip: You can also click See advanced options to access the “Temporary files” settings to clean up more files.

7. Click the Cleanup button.

   

   Clean up temp files recommendations

8. Click on Large or unused files.

9. Select the suggested files to free up storage space on Windows 11.

10. Click the Cleanup button.

11. Click on Files sync to the cloud.

12. Select the files available locally since they are already in the cloud.

    

    Windows 11 files cleanup

13. Click the Cleanup button.

14. Click on Unused apps.

15. Select the apps you don’t use and would like to remove to make more space on the device.

16. Click the Cleanup button.

    

    Uninstall unused apps on Windows 11

Once you complete the steps, you would have more space to store other important files, and depending on the amount of data, the performance of Windows 11 should improve noticeably.